COVID-19: Tunisia imposes general lockdown amid surge

On Jun 20, 2021

Tunisian Prime Minister, Hichem Mechichi, imposed general lockdown in the north-central governorate of Kairouan, following the increase in COVID-19 pandemic in the region on Saturday.

According to the government, the general lockdown shall be imposed if the infection rate of a governorate reaches 400 cases out of every 100,000 inhabitants, effective from Sunday.

“Regional quarantine centers will be created to accommodate positive cases and field hospitals will be set up for the management of cases, with the supply of oxygen and the organization of screening campaigns taken into account.

“Laboratories will also be strengthened to help identify the COVID-19 variant in Kairouan,” the government said.

Tunisian Health Ministry reported 2,193 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the North African country to 381,175.

The death toll from the virus rose by 86 to 13,960, while the total number of recoveries reached 331,910 and a total of 1,605,326 lab tests have been carried out in Tunisia so far.

Kamila/Xinhua